This book, written from an Australian perspective, explores previous outside/English-speaking nations' policy interests in the Nordic nations, and it shares these lessons, in particular, to learn from the achievements of the four main Nordic European countries. In terms of income distribution, Sweden is much more equal than Australia and Britain and twice as equal as the United States. Workforce participation in the Nordic nations is high, but working hours remain within reasonable limits, promoting genuine work-life balance. Child poverty there is very low. Finland has produced stunning educational success since the 1990s. Denmark invests in comprehensive skills training as part of providing security with flexibility at work. In Norway, the taxation approach ensures that natural resources are used sustainably for the entire nation's long-term wealth. All of these achievements are relevant to the question of future policy directions for countries outside of Nordic Europe. *** "The 'magic of the markets' philosophy that has failed so miserably wherever it has been tried is not the only option open to us. Northern Lights tells us how the Nordic nations have adopted people-focused and economically sustainable ways of operating." -- Professor Peter Doherty, winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine *** "This brilliant book, written in a journalistic style, is one of the most engaging books on economic and social policy I have read. It is rare and positive for an academic writer to write in such an understandable way for a general audience." -- Susan Cahill, Presenter and Producer, Talking Books, Newstalk FM Radio, Dublin, Ireland (Series: Public Policy) [Subject: Nordic Studies, Public Policy, Economics]

    She is determined to make the most of the situation - until she starts to hear the voice of a young girl, and the sound of her singing in the middle of the night. Should Alice follow her instinct and leave the farmhouse, or should she stay and find out what happened when the little girl disappeared without a trace forty years ago?

    At the center of the book are case studies of thirty pregnant women whose fetuses were labeled abnormal after an ultrasound examination. By following these women and their relatives through painful processes of reproductive decision making, Tine M. Gammeltoft offers intimate ethnographic insights into everyday life in contemporary Vietnam and a sophisticated theoretical exploration of how subjectivities are forged in the face of moral assessments and demands.Across the globe, ultrasonography and other technologies for prenatal screening offer prospective parents new information and present them with agonizing decisions never faced in the past. For anthropologists, this diagnostic capability raises important questions about individuality and collectivity, responsibility and choice. Arguing for more sustained anthropological attention to human quests for belonging, Haunting Images addresses existential questions of love and loss that concern us all.

    Building the Nation is an insightful study of this formation, emphasizing the crucial role of N.F.S. Grundtvig, the father of modern Denmark. Persevering through years of humiliation, internal conflict, and occupation, Denmark now boasts one of the world's most stable and democratic political systems, as well as one of its richest economies. From disaster to success, Building the Nation emphasizes the role of national icons and social movements in the formation of Denmark. The poet, political philosopher, clergyman, and founding father N.F.S. Grundtvig is compared to Rousseau and Durkheim in France, to Herder and Fichte in Germany, and to other great thinkers in the United States and Ireland. During his lifetime, the kingdom of Denmark transformed from monarchy to democracy and moved from agrarianism to a modern economy - evolutions to which Grundtvig himself contributed. He has become a fundamental and inescapable reference-point for discussions about nation, democracy, freedom, religion, and education in Denmark and abroad. Situating Grundtvig in both the history of Denmark and the intellectual history of nineteenth-century Europe, Building the Nation argues for the centrality of his influence in the making of modern Denmark, as well as the continuing influence of his work.